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Rooney Mara Investigates Factory Farms

Actress joins Animal Equality’s President Sharon Núñez to expose animal abuse

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Ronney Mara observes chickens in factory farm investigation
Rooney Mara

Nothing could have prepared me for what I was to feel, smell, and see with my own eyes when I went undercover on factory farms.

Rooney Mara
Animal advocate and actress

Key Findings of the Investigation

Approximately 3,000 pigs and over 50,000 chickens were locked in small cages or crammed by the thousands into the farms investigated by Animal Equality and Rooney Mara.

We documented animals who had not received adequate veterinary attention and were found in situations of extreme distress and pain.

Visit our photographic gallery for more details.

Hundreds of chickens sit on the floor in cramped factory farm
Over 50,000 birds were kept in one of the barns we visited. The chickens were 46 days old. According to the chicken farm’s own records, 1,936 birds died within the first seven weeks of their life, averaging 42 dead birds per day.
Stunted legs observed on chickens in factory farm investigation
Chickens are bred to grow so large, so quickly, that many can’t bear the weight of their own bodies and suffer painful leg deformities. Injured and unable to move, many will die from starvation and thirst.
Dead chickens in Rooney Mara factory farm investigation
Because of the unnatural growth due to genetic selection, chickens on factory farms can suffer from organ failure or heart attacks and many will die when they are only a few weeks old.
Ronney Mara pets chicken during factory farm investigation
This was the first time Rooney Mara visited a factory farm. “Nothing could have prepared me for what I was to feel, smell and see with my own eyes, when I went undercover on factory farms,” Mara said.
Scared piglets in Rooney Mara factory farm investigation
After being separated from their mothers, pigs spend six months in fattening pens before being sent to slaughter. They will be locked up and many of them end up attacking other pigs due to stress and frustration.
Sick and injured pigs in gestation crates
Mother pigs confined in small crates are unable to turn around or adequately nurse their young. Sometimes they even crush their newly born piglets due to lack of space and inability to move.
Looking through the bars at a constrained mother pig
“Nothing prepares you for looking into the eyes of a mother pig whose life is to be impregnated and left in a cage until she’s slaughtered,” said Rooney Mara.
Dead piglets uncovered in factory farm investigation
Dozens of weak and dying piglets receive no veterinary attention and die days or even hours after being born. Their mothers are unable to do anything to help them.
Observing chickens in a crowded factory farm setting
“Chickens on factory farms have been genetically selected to produce the most amount of meat possible. The torment they experience because of it is unimaginable,” said Sharon Núñez, President of Animal Equality.
Dead pigs in Rooney Mara factory farm investigation
Due to the conditions on factory farms, animals often die before they ever reach the slaughterhouse. Nearly 13% of all piglets die within a few weeks of being born, their bodies thrown away like trash.
Pig constrained in a gestation crate on factory farm.
female pigs in crates barely bigger than their body

I can’t imagine how awful it must be to be literally trapped and crushing your own babies and not be able to do anything about it.

Rooney Mara
Animal advocate and actress
Baby calf grooming another cow
Cow and her calf.

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Photo: Sammantha Fisher